Nigar Award for Best Actor

The Nigar Award for Best Actor, also known as Nigar Public Film Award for Best Actor is an award constituted for the cinema of Pakistan to recognise contribution of a lead actor in Lollywood.^[1] Established in 1958 by Ilyas Rashidi, it is presented annually by Nigar magazine as part of its annual ceremony of Nigar Awards.^[2] The award ceremony takes place independently and is not associated with any government or for-profit entities such as production house or television channel.^[3]

Nigar Awards for Best Actor
Awarded for	Best performance by an actor in a leading role
Country	Pakistan
Presented by	Nigar
First award	Santosh Kumar, Waada (1957)
Currently held by	Fahad Mustafa, Mah e Mir (2017)

The first Best Actor award ceremony took place in 1957 and was given to Santosh Kumar for Waada (1957).^[4] The last award was given to Fahad Mustafa in 2017 for Actor in Law.^[5]

Superlatives

Superlative	Actor	Record[6]
Actor with most awards	Nadeem	17
Actor with most consecutive awards	Nadeem (1967-91)	17

Multiple winners

• 17 Wins: Nadeem
• 8 Wins: Mohammad Ali
• 5 Wins: Sultan Rahi
• 5 Wins: Jawed Sheikh
• 4 Wins: Waheed Murad
• 4 Wins: Shaan Shahid
• 4 Wins: Moammar Rana
• 3 Wins: Santosh Kumar
• 2 Wins: Darpan
• 2 Wins: Habib
• 2 Wins: Sudhir
• 2 Wins: Ali Ejaz
• 2 Wins: Mustafa Qureshi
• 2 Wins: Umer Shareef
• 2 Wins: Izhar Qazi

Winners and nominees

Table key

‡	Indicates the winner

1950s

Year	Photos of winners	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref(s)
1957 (1st)	—	Santosh Kumar ‡	Santosh	Waada	[4]
1958 (2nd)	—	Habib ‡	Habib	Aadmi	[7]
1959 (3rd)	—	Darpan ‡	Darpan	Saathi (1959)	[8]

1960s

Year	Photos of winners	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref(s)
1960 (4th)		Darpan ‡	Doctor	Saheli	[9]
1961 (5th)	—	Habib ‡	N/A	Surayya (1961)	[7]
1962 (6th)		Santosh Kumar ‡	Shahid	Ghunghat	[10]
1963 (7th)		Santosh Kumar ‡	N/A	Daman (1963)	[11]
1964 (8th)		Waheed Murad ‡	Donkey cart owner	Heera Aur Pathar	[12]
1965 (9th)		Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Kaneez	[13]
1966 (10th)		Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Aag Ka Darya (1966)	[13]
1967 (11th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Chakori	[6]
1968 (12th)		Muhammad Ali ‡	Anwer/Anu	Saiqa (1968)	[13]
1969 (13th)		Waheed Murad ‡	N/A	Andaleeb	[14]

1970s

Year	Photos of winners	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref(s)
Awards are also presented to Punjabi language films since 1970
1970 (14th)	—	Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Insaan aur Aadmi (1970)	[13]
	—	Sudhir ‡	N/A	Maa Putter (1970)	[15]
1971 (15th)	—	Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Wehshi (1971)	[16]
		Waheed Murad ‡	N/A	Mastana Mahi (1971)	[17]
1972 (16th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Ehsas (1972)	[6]
	—	Sultan Rahi ‡	N/A	Basheera (1972)	[18]
1973 (17th)	—	Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Aas (1973)	[13]
	—	Yousuf Khan ‡	N/A	Ziddi	[19]
1974 (18th)	—	Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Aaina Aur Soorat (1974)	[13]
	—	Sudhir ‡	N/A	Lottery (1974)	[15]
1975 (19th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Anari (1975)	[13]
	—	Sultan Rahi ‡	N/A	Wehshi Jatt (1975)	[18]
1976 (20th)	—	Shahid ‡	N/A	Shabana	[20]
	—	Kamal ‡	N/A	Jat Kurian Taun Darda (1976)
1977 (21st)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Aina	[6]
	—	Yousuf Khan ‡	N/A	Jabroo (1977)
1978 (22nd)	—	Muhammad Ali ‡	N/A	Haider Ali (1978)	[13]
	—	Asif Khan ‡	N/A	Shola (1978)
1979 (23rd)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Pakeeza (1979)	[6]
	—	Ali Ejaz ‡	N/A	Dubai Chalo (1979)

1980s

Year	Photos of winners	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref(s)
1980 (24th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Saima (1980)	[6]
	—	Ali Ejaz ‡	N/A	Sohra Te Jawai (1980)
1981 (25th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Qurbani (1981)	[6]
	—	Mustafa Qureshi ‡	N/A	Sher Khan (1981)	[21]
1982 (26th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Sangdil (1982)	[6]
	—	Ali Eijaz ‡	N/A	Naukar Te Maalik (1982)
1983 (27th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Dehleez (1983)	[6]
	—	Mustafa Qureshi ‡	N/A	Rustam Te Khan (1983)
1984 (28th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Lazawal (1984)	[6]
	—	Ayaz ‡	N/A	Ishq Nachaway Gali Gali (1984)
1985 (29th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Naraaz (1985)	[6]
	—	Ghulam Mohiuddin ‡	N/A	Wadera (1985)
1986 (30th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Faisla (1986)	[6]
	—	Afzal Ahmad ‡	N/A	Ye Adam (1986)
1987 (31st)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Choron Ki Barat (1987)	[6]
	—	Sultan Rahi ‡	N/A	Dulari (1987)
1988 (32nd)		Jawed Sheikh ‡	N/A	Gharibon Ka Baadshah (1988)
	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Mukhra	[6]
1989 (33rd)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Barood Ki Chahoon (1989)	[6]
	—	Sultan Rahi ‡	N/A	Kalka
	—	Jawed Sheikh ‡	N/A	Baarish (1989)

1990s

Year	Photos of winners	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref(s)
1990 (34th)		Jawed Sheikh ‡	N/A	Ustadon Ke Ustad (1990)
	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Gorian Dian Jhangra (1990)	[6]
1991 (35th)	—	Nadeem ‡	N/A	Watan Kay Rakhwalay	[6]
		Javed Sheikh ‡	N/A	Kalay Chor
1992 (36th)		Umer Shareef ‡	N/A	Mr. 420 (1992)	[22]
	—	Sultan Rahi ‡	N/A	Majhoo (1992)
1993 (37th)		Umer Shareef ‡	N/A	Mr. Charlie (1993)
		Jawed Sheikh ‡	N/A	Zamana
1994 (38th)	—	Ghulam Mohiuddin ‡	N/A	Sarkata Insaan
	—	Yousuf Khan ‡	N/A	But Shikan (1994)
1995 (39th)		Jawed Sheikh ‡	N/A	Mushkil
	—	Sultan Rahi ‡	N/A	Gubbar Singh (1995)
1996 (40th)	—	Saud ‡	N/A	Hawaen (1996)
	—	Izhar Qazi ‡	N/A	Sakahi Badshah (1996)	[23]
1997 (41st)		Shaan Shahid ‡	N/A	Sangam (1997)
	—	Izhar Qazi ‡	N/A	Kala Raj (1997)
1998 (42nd)		Shaan Shahid ‡	N/A	Nikah
	—	Moammar Rana ‡	N/A	Choorian	[24]
1999 (43rd)		Shaan Shahid ‡	N/A	Jannat Ki Talash
	—	Moammar Rana ‡	N/A	Nikki Jaee Haan (1999)

2000s

Year	Photos of winners	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref(s)
2000 (45th)		Shaan Shahid ‡	Ali	Tere Pyar Mein
	—	Moammar Rana ‡	N/A	Mehndi Waley Hath (2000)
2001 (46th)	—	Ajab Gul ‡	Aswad	Khoey Ho Tum Kahan
2002 (46th)	—	Moammar Rana ‡	Falak	Yeh Dil Aap Ka Huwa
Not announced from 2003 to 2016
2017 (47th)		Fahad Mustafa ‡	Ahmad Jamal/Mir Taqi Mir	Mah e Mir